Scott Lee and Nai Saechao allegedly hid their faces as they sped off near Shingle Springs. Maybe the suspects thought the wounded male deer was dead. Soon enough, they found out he wasn’t.

That’s where things got really gruesome. Deputies say the deer regained consciousness in the SUV and that’s when they say the suspects took out a machete, stabbing the deer over and over until it was dead.

“Oh no, how terrible!” Carlson said. “That’s awful.”

Witnesses called 911 after seeing what they described as a “large amount” of blood dripping from the back of the SUV.

When deputies pulled Saechao and Lee over on Highway 50, they discovered the deer carcass and a disgusting mess: the suspects and the SUV’s interior were covered in blood.

Reached at his home Tuesday, Seng Saechao said he believes his brother wasn’t just killing for sport.

“If he killed the deer, obviously he was probably going to eat it,” he said. “He wasn’t killing it just for doing it.”